By Steve Daniel

Neither Christos Roussos, nor his wife, Sylvia, had an opportunity to go to college, but they saw to it that their children did. Six of the seven attended ODU, going on to successful careers after getting an education at their hometown university.

Roussos, an immigrant from Cyprus who arrived in New York in 1930 at age 21 with only a couple of dollars in his pocket, would later marry Sylvia Amrod and move to Norfolk in the late 1940s. He ran several restaurants in the city before retiring in 1975.

Constantine, the eldest child, was the first to attend Old Dominion, graduating in 1969 with a degree in mathematics.

“Once one of us started, the rest were pretty well destined to follow,” said younger brother Robert ’79, managing partner of the law firm Roussos, Langhorne & Carlson, PLC, in Norfolk. Five of the children went on to earn one or more graduate degrees.

Robert, one of the university’s first four Dominion Scholars, interrupted his education after a year to serve in the Army, from 1973-76, which included a one-year stint in South Korea. He returned to the university in August 1976 eager to pick up where he left off. “I have never forgotten that ODU helped me out. They held my scholarship for me after my Army service,” he said.

The Roussos siblings got together for their father’s 90th birthday. In attendance were, Louis Roussos ’77, an assistant professor in educational psychology at the University of Illinois; Constantine Roussos ’69, a professor of computer science at Lynchburg College; and Christopher Roussos ’74, retired from the Department of the Army and a resident of Hampton; Joseph Roussos, the only non-ODU alumnus, a UVa graduate who is an auditor with the Department of the Treasury; Christine Roussos Bishop ’73, assistant director of the Suffolk Department of Social Services and a resident of Virginia Beach; Mary Anne Roussos-Doty ’72 (M.B.A. ’78), owner/operator of Artistic Finishes, an interior design firm, in Phoenix; and Robert Roussos ’79, who lives in Norfolk.